Anderson, Kym2012-06-262012-06-262006-12https://hdl.handle.net/10986/9281Most of the world's poorest people depend on farming for their livelihood. Earnings from farming in low-income countries are depressed partly due to a pro-urban bias in own-country policies, and partly because richer countries (including some developing countries) favor their farmers with import barriers and subsidies. Both sets of policies reduce national and global economic growth and add to inequality and poverty in developing countries. Acknowledgement of that since the 1980s has given rise to greater pressures for reform, both internal and external. Over the past two decades numerous developing country governments have reduced their sectoral and trade policy distortions, while many high-income countries continue with protectionist policies that harm developing country exports of farm products. Recent research suggests that the agricultural protectionist policies of high-income countries reduce welfare in many developing countries. Most of those studies also suggest that full global liberalization of merchandise trade would raise value added in agriculture in developing country regions, and that much of the benefit from global reform would come not just from reform in high-income countries but also from liberalization among developing countries, including in many cases own-country reform. These findings raise three key questions that are addressed in this paper: To what extent have the reforms of the past two decades succeeded in reducing distortions to agricultural incentives? Do current policy distortions still discriminate against farmers in low-income countries? And what are the prospects for further reform in the next decade or so?en-USCC BY 3.0 IGOABSOLUTE TERMSAGRICULTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGYAGRICULTURAL ECONOMICSAGRICULTURAL ECONOMISTSAGRICULTURAL EXPORTERSAGRICULTURAL EXPORTSAGRICULTURAL GOODSAGRICULTURAL INCENTIVESAGRICULTURAL MARKETSAGRICULTURAL OUTPUTAGRICULTURAL POLICIESAGRICULTURAL POLICYAGRICULTURAL PRICEAGRICULTURAL PRICESAGRICULTURAL PRICINGAGRICULTURAL PRODUCTSAGRICULTURAL PROTECTIONAGRICULTURAL PROTECTIONISMAGRICULTURAL R&DAGRICULTURAL REFORMAGRICULTURAL SECTORAGRICULTURAL SUBSIDIESAGRICULTURAL SUPPORTAGRICULTURAL SUPPORT POLICIESAGRICULTURAL TARIFFAGRICULTURAL TARIFFSAGRICULTURAL TRADEAGRICULTURAL VALUEAGRICULTUREALCOHOLIC BEVERAGESANTI-TRADEAPPLIED TARIFFBANANABANANASBILATERAL TARIFFSBLACK MARKETBORDER MEASURESCAPITAL FLIGHTCOMPARATIVE ADVANTAGECOMPARATIVE DISADVANTAGECONSUMERSCOTTONCOUNTRY DATACURRENCYDEVELOPED COUNTRIESDEVELOPING COUNTRIESDEVELOPING COUNTRYDEVELOPMENT AGENCIESDEVELOPMENT ECONOMICSDEVELOPMENT REPORTDEVELOPMENT RESEARCHDISPUTE SETTLEMENTDUTY DRAWBACKSEAST EUROPEECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTECONOMIC GROWTHECONOMIC INTEGRATIONECONOMIC LITERATUREECONOMIC POLICYECONOMIC RESEARCHECONOMIC WELFAREECONOMICSECONOMICS PROFESSIONECONOMIES OF SCALEEMPIRICAL EVIDENCEEMPIRICAL MODELEXCHANGE RATEEXCISE TAXESEXPORTEXPORT MARKETSEXPORT PRICEEXPORT PRICESEXPORT SUBSIDIESEXPORT TAXESEXPORTERSEXPORTSFARMFARM CREDITFARM INCOMEFARM INCOMESFARM INPUTSFARM PRODUCTSFARM SIZEFARMERSFEEDFINANCIAL INSTITUTIONSFOOD EXPORTSFOOD PRICESFOOD PRODUCTSFOOD SAFETYFOOD SECURITYFOREIGN CURRENCYFOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENTFOREIGN EXCHANGEFOREIGN TRADEFREE ACCESSFREE TRADEFULL LIBERALIZATIONGENERAL EQUILIBRIUM ANALYSESGENERAL EQUILIBRIUM MODELGLOBAL ECONOMYGLOBAL TRADEGLOBAL TRADE ANALYSISGOVERNMENT REGULATIONGROWTH HORMONESGROWTH RATESHOUSEHOLDSHUMAN CAPITALIMPACT OF TRADEIMPERFECT COMPETITIONIMPORT BARRIERSIMPORT PRICESIMPORT PROTECTIONIMPORT QUOTASIMPORT TARIFFSIMPORTSINCOMEINCOME MEASURESINDIVIDUAL COUNTRIESINTERNATIONAL PRICESINTERNATIONAL TRADEINTERNATIONAL TRANSPORTLATIN AMERICANLDCSLOW-INCOME COUNTRIESMARKET ACCESSMARKETINGMULTILATERAL NEGOTIATIONSMULTILATERAL TRADEMULTILATERAL TRADE REFORMOPENNESSOVERVALUATIONOVERVALUED EXCHANGEOVERVALUED EXCHANGE RATESPER CAPITA INCOMEPOLICY ANALYSISPOLICY DEBATEPOLICY IMPLICATIONSPOLICY OPTIONSPOLICY REFORMSPOLICY RESEARCHPOLITICAL ECONOMYPOLITICAL ECONOMY OF REFORMPOOR COUNTRIESPOVERTY ALLEVIATIONPREFERENTIAL ACCESSPREFERENTIAL AGREEMENTSPREMIUMPRICE INDEXPRICE INDEXESPRO-POORPRO-POOR GROWTHPRODUCTIVITYPRODUCTIVITY GROWTHPROTECTION ESTIMATESPROTECTION RATESPROTECTIONISMPROTECTIONIST POLICIESPUBLIC EXPENDITUREPUBLIC EXPENDITURESQUALITY STANDARDSRAPID INDUSTRIALIZATIONRATES OF PROTECTIONREAL INCOMEREAL INCOMESRELATIVE IMPORTANCERICH COUNTRIESROUND OF MULTILATERAL TRADE NEGOTIATIONSRURAL INFRASTRUCTURESTRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENTSTRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT PROGRAMSSUB-SAHARAN AFRICASUGARTARIFF RATESTAXATIONTERMS OF TRADETRADE EFFECTTRADE NEGOTIATIONSTRADE POLICIESTRADE POLICYTRADE PREFERENCESTRADE REFORMTRADE RESTRICTIONSTRADE-DISTORTING MEASURESTRANSITION ECONOMIESUNILATERAL REFORMURUGUAY ROUNDVALUE ADDEDVOLUMEWAGE RATESWELFARE GAINSWORLD TRADEWORLD TRADE ORGANIZATIONWTOWorld Bank10.1596/1813-9450-4092